With 4:16 to go on Sunday night, the Warriors found themselves short-handed, tired, bloody and — most significantly — down by 8 points to New Orleans. What happened next is a testament to how far this team has come over the first quarter of the season, and a decent summary of the little things elite teams do.

To force overtime, the Warriors stopped settling for threes and attacked the basket. They played their usual relentless defense, but found the perfect balance where they were as aggressive as possible without drawing a foul. There were a few scary moments — and at least one careless turnover — but overall the Warriors played smarter and harder than the Pelicans in the final minutes to force the extra period. The overtime run was typical of this team’s best moments — Stephen Curry threes; Klay Thompson perimeter defense; the whirlwind of winning basketball plays that is Draymond Green — but the final minutes of regulation were something different. They’re worthy of a more detailed look.

To set the stage, the Warriors found themselves down 99-107 with 4:16 to go. After running a small line-up for the early fourth quarter — and gaining no ground — Kerr opted for a more traditional line-up of Curry/Thompson/Iguodala/Green/Speights. Here’s what happened next.

4:04 — Thompson gets the ball at the arc, in single coverage against Rivers. He penetrates using his left hand and finishes at the rim over both Rivers and Anderson. 101-107.

3:45 — Speights cuts off penetration, forcing Holiday to pull up from 8 feet. Thompson bothers the shot from behind, and Green tips the miss out to start the fast break.

3:41 — Steph takes the ball off Green’s tip, runs the length of the floor, executes a perfect change of pace in the lane to shed one of two defenders and gets fouled going for the lay-up. Drains both free throws. 103-107.

3:20 — Thompson overplays Holiday’s right hand, forcing him repeatedly to the left and out of the center. After probing repeatedly and losing position on each attempt, Holiday finally forces up an off-balance shot. Speights clears the board and immediately finds Curry to initiate the break.

3:12 — Curry immediately initiates the offense, finding a cutting Green going down the lane. As the defense sags to account for Green’s penetration, Green whips the ball to the corner to an open Iguodala. Iguodala — playing more assertive basketball all night — knocks down the three. 106-107.

2:57 — Speights gets defensive position again, reading Holiday’s cut down the lane perfectly to draw a charge on the pass and crash. Three straight Warriors stops.

2:37 — Without Bogut in the game to set wide picks and scrape defenders without dribble hand-offs, both Curry and Thompson have struggled to find open threes late in the game. This possession breaks down with Curry dribbling up top to no avail, then crossing the court to an equally pressured Thompson who forces up a desperate three. Speights commits a lose-ball foul in a scramble for the rebound.

2:18 — Thompson again keeps Holiday from penetrating into the key, instead forcing him to the edge of the court. Holiday dumps the ball back to Cunningham for a long jumper, which he hits. Still, if the Warriors are going to give up a shot, a deep jumper from Cunningham is preferable to Holiday or Evans in the lane. 106-109.

2:04 — Curry finally gets a decent pick on the perimeter (courtesy of Green) and Cunningham is forced to switch with Evans on coverage. Curry turns the corner on Cunningham and immediately heads straight for the rim. Anderson slides into the lane late and side-swipes Curry as he’s pulling up for the shot. Two shots. Curry nails both. 108-109.

1:49 — As the Pelicans desperately look for a lane to the basket, they swing the ball out to Rivers at the perimeter. Curry flashes to the three point line to force the ball out of his hand, then immediately covers 15 feet to close off the lane Cunningham is about to pursue to the rim. Curry draws the charge. It’s a beautiful example of anticipatory defense — understanding spacing on the court, the tendencies of other players, and how to recover after the defense pulls or pinches to follow the ball. Four Warriors stops on five Pelican possessions.

1:34 — Curry uses another Green screen to shed Holiday. With Cunningham now on him, Curry again immediately heads to the rim. Traffic in the lane forces him to pull up short with a tough flip shot. Speights sees the play developing and starts his rotation — from posting up on Anderson to getting inside rebounding position — before Curry even leaves his feet for the shot. Curry’s shot falls short, but Speights is in perfect position for the offensive board and put-back. 110-109. First Warriors lead since early in the fourth quarter.

1:22 — Evans finds a lane to the basket. Green rotates over and gets in front of him, but gets called for the foul as he brings his arm down for the block. Evans hits both free throws. 110-111.

1:07 — Speights sets the screen for Curry on the perimeter but slips it too early. Curry forces a pass through two defenders in hopes of hitting the cutting Speights, but the easy switch by Holiday and Asik allows Holiday to pick off the pass. Both Warriors players are to blame for poor execution (and the Pelicans deserve credit as well for a smooth switch). There’s no statistic for quantifying quality perimeter screens, but this possession compared to the prior ones shows what a difference they can make. First Warriors turnover of the crunch-time stretch.

0:49 — Iguodala picks up Evans at the three-point arc, but plays him for penetration, not a pull-up. Evans probes a few times, with Iguodala shadowing his every move. Seeing no path to the rim, Evans pulls up for a 17-foot stepback jumper with 8 seconds left on the shotclock. The ball clanks off the rim, and bounces over the backboard. Five Warriors stops on seven Pelican possessions.

0:43 — Green penetrates, pulling the defense with him. Iguodala hangs back at the three-point line and receives Green’s drive-and-kick pass for a wide-open look. As Iguodala puts the shot up, Speights moves from behind both Asik and Cunningham to the open space on the floor cleared as Green ran through his drive. Green locks up Asik, pinning him to the floor. Speights overpowers Cunningham for the board, and gets fouled on the put-back. Speights hits one of two. 111-111.

0:26 — Iguodala forces Evans to his left on penetration. Green drops down off Anderson to help with Evans. Green and Iguodala converge to knock the ball out of Evans’ hands. Pelicans ball on the baseline. The Pelicans almost commit a five-second violation on the inbound, then find the escape valve option back at the halfcourt line. After nearly throwing the ball away, they frantically put it in Holiday’s hands. Holiday drives and kicks to Anderson at the arc. In the time it takes the 6-10 Anderson to catch the ball and pull up for the shot, Green covers the distance between the key (he helped stop Holiday’s penetration) and and the arc, and blocks the shot. Curry sneaks in for the rebound. Six Warriors stops on eight Pelican possessions.

0:02 — Curry finds Green at the top of the key, Green probes the defense to pull some pressure off Thompson. Thompson gets the ball at the arc, takes a few dribbles inside it and pulls up for an open shot. It looks good, but clanks out. Tie game, Pelicans’ ball.

0:00 — Thompson covers the inbound pass perfectly, forcing the Pelicans to throw to Evans in the backcourt. Evans tries a desperation heave over Thompson as his momentum carries him off the court. Seven Warriors stops on nine Pelican possessions. Overtime.

We’ve seen the Warriors play gutsy, lock-down defense before and Green doing the dirty work at both ends is nothing new. But the aggressiveness with which the Warriors attacked the basket in the final moments showed tremendous discipline and self-awareness. Tired on the back-end of a back-to-back and not connecting on their threes in the quarter, the Warriors refused to settle for jumpers and forced the Pelicans to defend at the rim. Four of the Warriors’ six scoring possessions were a direct result of penetration — either a made basket, a foul or a put-back. The other two were shots originally generated from penetration. The Warriors are no longer just a jump shooting team, and can win in the trenches even when their shots aren’t falling.

While this stretch of basketball wasn’t as flashy as the overtime buckets, it showed tremendous mental toughness. Speights — who might as well have been nailed to the floor in rebounding situations last year — repeatedly made smart and aggressive moves to put himself in offensive rebounding position. Curry, Thompson and Iguodala all shaded their defensive assignments in ways to force them off their preferred lanes of attack. Curry and Green did masterful jobs of recovering from switches or rotations, stopping the ball at multiple points in the Pelicans’ attack on the same possession. When Kerr talked earlier in the season about wanting the Warriors to practice their execution, he was talking about plays like these.

And just like that, the streak continues. I’ll be amazed if it survives Tuesday’s game, given the Warriors’ mounting injuries, their road fatigue and — most importantly — the quality of the opponent. But if the streak does end in Memphis, it has been a wonder-filled run. Warriors fans, no matter their age, all have stories of mediocrity and failure. We’re unified by the sting of teams that couldn’t even meet low expectations, of wasted talent, of endless optimism rewarded with empty promises of next year. What we’ve seen so far this season goes a long way towards washing away the stench of all those years. This is a deep, skilled, smart, well-rounded and likable basketball team, with a lot of coaching intuition and brain-power behind them. They’re smashing through high expectations, and refusing to take comfort in ready-made excuses. Injuries, road games, back-to-backs? Whatever. They just keep winning. I’m thrilled the patience of Warriors fans is finally being rewarded. I’m thrilled we get to listen to Jim Barnett marvel over win after win, sensing that he’s enjoying it as much as we are. I’m thrilled, with the season barely a quarter over, that there’s so much more basketball left for this team to play.

Dieter Kurtenbach says the San Francisco Giants are embarrassing themselves by fixating on the luxury tax instead of being more aggressive in rebuilding their 98-loss team. Also, he talks about why the 49ers need to pay Jimmy Garoppolo now, or else.